Russia to fully renew nuclear forces by 2020 – official

The Yars land-based mobile missile system before being transported to its field combat duty site at the Teykovo Guards Missile Division. (RIA Novosti/
Vadim Savitskii) / RIA Novosti

Russia is set to renew the country’s strategic nuclear forces by 100 percent, not 70 percent as previously announced, according to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

"The formation of
the technical basis for strategic nuclear forces is going at a
faster rate, and in fact, we will renew not 70 percent of the
SNF, but 100 percent," Rogozin told Rossiya TV
channel.

The deputy premier, who’s responsible for the Russian defense
industry, also declared that in 2015 the army and the navy are to
switch 30 percent of their weapons to "cutting edge"
technology, and by 70 percent in 2020.

"Should we amaze our colleagues, and is it necessary to
brandish all types of weaponry to surprise them? Something must
be preserved as a quiet secret for yourself to reveal at the most
critical moment," Rogozin said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

He added that the Russian army needs to be compact to move to
“any threatening war theater” if necessary.

Rogozin also stated that Russia can do without the French Mistral
helicopter carriers, the delivery of which was suspended over the
situation in Ukraine. Moreover, the official described the
statements from France that the contract could be disrupted as
“unlawful” because one third of the ship was
manufactured in Russia.

“For the same reason, it is impossible to transfer this
half-of-the-ship to anybody else,” he added.

“Secondly, the money has been paid and it must be returned
with penalties. Thirdly, it is not even money that France is
risking, but its status of a reliable supplier in the World Trade
Organization,” Rogozin said.

Mistrals aren’t entirely convenient for the Russian climate, as
they were initially designed for the Mediterranean and wouldn’t
be able to sail in northern seas, the deputy premier underlined.

Last but not the least, Russia can now make state-of-the-art
ships that can easily match up to the Mistrals, the official
said.

“Last year, on November 16 we transferred the Vikramaditya
light aircraft carrier, which was formerly our Admiral Gorshkov
missile cruiser, to our Indian colleagues. Thus, having
implemented that contract and earning big money, we proved inside
Russia and showed to the country’s leadership that Russia can now
assemble ships of that kind,” Rogozin stressed, as quoted by
ITAR-TASS.

The deputy PM also said that Russia would invite the world’s best
specialists to work in the country’s manufacturing.

“In principle, we would be glad to hire French shipbuilders.
I’m not joking. We’ll be employing the best specialists from all
over the globe now,” Rogozin stated, adding that Ukrainian
workers are welcome too, and for them the procedure of getting
Russian citizenship would be simplified.

Among other developments, the Russian military-industrial complex
will replace all the Ukrainian supplies in two-and-a-half years.